Kids’ Home Events Storytimes Good Books Homework Help Fun & Games Parents & Teachers Contact Us
Library Catalog Ask a Librarian

Home » Storytimes » Story Window » April 2009

Story Window Storytime Blog: April 2009

Peek inside for storytime ideas! Wilmette Librarians share suggestions for age-appropriate books, rhymes, songs, and crafts.

April 27, 2009

Singing Along
(For 1.5-2.5 Year Olds)

Singing along with books is fun for the storytime kids. A new version of a classic song is the silly and fun The Seals on the Bus, by Lenny Hort, about a bus overrun by seals, snakes, skunks and other animals. Jane Cabrera utilizes her winning illustrations to depict the amusing Mother Goose rhyme, Old Mother Hubbard about an unusual dog. We sang another Mother Goose rhyme along with the big book version of Sing A Song of Sixpence. I did the colorful flannel board story based on the book by Bill Martin called "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"

Posted by Sue at 10:26 AM | TrackBack

April 22, 2009

Spring Storytime
(For 2.5-3.5 Year Olds)

Possum and the Peeper, by Anne Hunter. This was my first time using this book, and I really liked it! It's a bit wordy for my group but easy to pare down. Great for talking about little frogs with big voices, a/k/a spring peepers!

Mouse's First Spring, by Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Buket Erdogan. Simple story in which kids can help identify springtime sights such as butterflies, flowers, and snails.

Fran's Flower, by Lisa Bruce, illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw. Kids love to show they are smarter about growing flowers than poor Fran, who -- among other things -- tries to make her flower grow by feeding it pizza!

We sang "Five Green and Speckled Frogs" and did our garden action rhymes. In retrospect, I wish I'd had a recording and photographs of real spring peepers!

Posted by Lisa at 6:18 PM | TrackBack

Rescue Worker Storytime
(For 2.5-3.5 Year Olds)

Some things never change: firefighter, police officer, and doctor continue to be popular career choices even among the three-year-old set! Two weeks ago, we celebrated rescue workers in storytime with these choices.

Dot the Fire Dog, by Lisa DeSimini. Firefighting from a Dalmatian's eye view. I use this book a LOT. It's still one of the best firefighting books for two- and three-year-olds.

Police: Hurrying! Helping! Saving!, by Patricia Hubbell, illustrated by Viviana Garofoli. Rhyming story that covers many of police's common tasks, including the many vehicles they may use!

Doctor Meow's Big Emergency, by Sam Lloyd. Simple story about a 9-1-1 call from a cat who falls out of a tree. Doctor Meow to the rescue!

Posted by Lisa at 6:05 PM | TrackBack

April 20, 2009

Let's Make Moo Sounds
(For 1.5-2.5 Year Olds)

The storytime kids love to make animal sounds. They enjoy peek-a-boo books with flaps such as Marie Cimarusti's Peek A Moo! in which each flap conceals a noisy animal. We made animal sounds as I read Can You Moo? by David Wojtowycz, in which each animal demonstrates its special sound. The classic team of Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle produced another winning story in Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? These colorful zoo animals make plenty of pleasing noises. We sang along with the flannel Mother Goose song, "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

Posted by Sue at 8:25 PM | TrackBack

Hens and Roosters
(For 1.5-2.5 Year Olds)

Spring brings new animal babies into the world. In Hurry! Hurry! by Eve Bunting, an excited rooster encourages every animal to come to the barn to see the hatching of a chicken out of an egg, so exciting to watch. When we read Whose Chick are You? by Nancy Tafuri, we made animal sounds as a swan hatches out of its egg, and proceeds to look for his mama among the various noisy animals. We sing this song weekly but it is nice to see this colorful picture book version of Five Little Ducks, illustrated by Ivan Bates. In keeping with the egg theme, we did the flannel story, "Three Eggs in a Basket."

Posted by Sue at 8:06 PM | TrackBack

April 8, 2009

Best of Winter 2009--Craft
(For 3.5-5 Year Olds)

At one storytime, we read some great stories about boxes, such as Not a Box by Antoinette Portis. Accordingly, we did a box-related craft. The kids got a sheet of paper with a box on it and drew around the box. Following the book, some of them turned the box into a racecar. Others made it a rocketship. Some put a bunny in it. Others put themselves in it. They showed lots of creativity in adapting the box to their own ideas. You could even say they were thinking outside the box, while thinking about the inside of the box.

Posted by Janet at 4:36 PM | TrackBack

Best of Winter 2009--Rhyme
(For 3.5-5 Year Olds)

During a storytime about the letter O, we did a fun action rhyme. The kids seemed to like saying it, and they followed the actions really well. It's a traditional rhyme, but I found it in Storytime Slam! by my favorite storytime guy, Rob Reid.

Oliver Twist, can you do this?
If so, do so.
Number one, touch your tongue.

Oliver Twist, can you do this?
If so, do so.
Number two, touch your shoe.

Oliver Twist, can you do this?
If so, do so.
Number three, touch your knee.

Oliver Twist, can you do this?
If so, do so.
Number four, touch the floor.

Oliver Twist, can you do this?
If so, do so.
Number five, jump so high.

Posted by Janet at 4:25 PM | TrackBack

Best of Winter 2009--Book
(For 3.5-5 Year Olds)

We read lots of old favorites and popular new titles, but a somewhat random book from 1999 sticks out in my mind as the kids' favorite of the session. We read Picky Mrs. Pickle, by Christine M. Schneider, during a storytime about the color green. Mrs. Pickle will only wear green clothes and eat pickles and pickle-flavored food. Her life is very routine, until, one day, her niece convinces her to try something new: eggplant ripple ice cream. This changes everything! Mrs. Pickle can't get enough of new friends and new fun. She even wears a red dress!
The kids liked the funny text, but they loved the silly details in the pictures--a poodle wearing green, a pickle-shaped mailbox, 112 pairs of green shoes, pickle-looking perfume. I think the message that it's ok to try new things was also pertinent.
All in all, Picky Mrs. Pickle is a great pick!

Posted by Janet at 9:54 AM | TrackBack

April 6, 2009

Spring!
(For 1.5-2.5 Year Olds)

Hooray, spring is here after another brutal Chicago winter! But it still is cold outside. We will keep waiting for warmer days. And yet, there are notable changes outside that we talked about such as green sprouts shooting out of the earth that soon will be flowers. In Fran's Flower, by Lisa Bruce, a little girl thinks her plant needs human food to grow but soon discovers that plants prefer water and sunshine instead. Little Petey makes messes that his helpful brother Sam manages to always fix in Fix-It Sam, by Lori Ries. The loud tapping sound of rain on a window creates confusion as a girl tries to decide who is making the noises and wonders if it could be various animals in the big book version of Who Is Tapping At My Window, by Alhambra Deming. I did the spring like flannel story, "Five Little Flowers", as we counted and identified colors together.

Posted by Sue at 6:58 PM | TrackBack

« March 2009 | Main | May 2009 »